An Unprecedented Heartbeat
by TheLockness
Summary: In the blink of an eye, Alixandra's life did a backflip into uncharted territory. Being a mutant is one thing, but being the one everyone craves? That's another story. AngelOC R
1. Chapter 1

Laughter erupted throughout my house; the cheerful sounds seemed to bounce off the walls and fill every room with the joyous noise. My family, which consisted of my mother, father, and little brother, were all seated in the living room. We were all crowded around the small coffee table, sitting on the floor with our legs crossed, with a simple board game on top of it.

While some kids rant and rave about not liking their parents, saying how overwhelming they are or how embarrassing they are, I, on the other hand, actually like my parents believe it or not. They were sweet and amusing. Maybe it was because I didn't care what other people thought about us, but I never seemed to have a problem with my parents.

I had been abruptly taken out of the 6th grade for reasons I still couldn't quite understand. I've always had a birthmark located on my abdomen. My parents always told me that everyone had one, but mine was unique. It was a long stripe but what fascinated me was the color. It was bright aqua. I knew later that this wasn't, as my parents had said, _normal_, but at the time I was raised in a close environment. I didn't know any better.

I didn't have many friends outside of school, and by that I mean I only have one. She was my next door neighbor, so in actuality, I never went far from my house. My parents didn't like knowing that I was far and when they couldn't be in touch. I only understood it as parental protection and love.

My mother's face lit up again, as it has all during the night, the wrinkles around her lips shone but she was still as beautiful as ever. She once had raven black hair, but now it was slowly became faded with the gray that grew. I had my mother's hair color, the natural long black hair that fell into place and hugged my shoulders. I also inherited her laugh, her lovable character, her warmness that seemed to just float about her. My mother and I were inseparable at times.

"Alixandra, it's your turn," my father said, a grin on his face as he handed me the dice. His hands were a bit rough but you could only expect that considering he worked in construction. The one thing I found magnificent about my father, along with many other things but this just stood out, was his eyes. Never had I seen a shade of colors before. His eyes could get extremely light, what seemed to be almost neon, when he was happy or excited, just like now. But when ever he was exhausted, his eyes would always shade a different color darker. I loved his eyes, which was why I was so grateful that I had them too. They were so different and I had always liked things different than the rest.

I took the dice and looked down at my little brother, who was eagerly waiting for his turn. He was the most normal one to be blunt about it. He had mousy brown hair that he never brushed and dark brown eyes. To be honest, he didn't look like my mother or my father, but he did, in fact, act like us. He was only ten, the age where they think they're adults and can handle responsibility, when they are completely naive. But I loved him, despite the sibling bickering we may have.

"Ali!" my brother almost yelled, waving his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Ali!" I snapped out of my trance. I guess I hadn't noticed that I wasn't paying attention.

My mother looked over at me with some concern, like any good mother would do. "Are you alright Alixandra?" she asked. My parents were the only ones who ever called me Alixandra. I preferred Ali and I would pester them about it at times, but they always like to call me that.

"I'm fine," I said, smiling at her. "I was just thinking." I rolled the dice and it landed on the board with a thud. My father moved my piece across the board twelve spaces.

And that's when I felt it. A deep, excruciating feeling right in the middle of my chest, like my heart was being seared apart. I was starting to feel light headed and my vision blurred. Something wasn't right. There's something wrong. I clenched my eyes shut but that only made it worse. I was seeing things and I met that literally. But my eyes were closed, this wasn't possible, this wasn't humanly possible.

I fell to the floor, my heart beat seemed to triple and the pain was slowly getting worse as each minute passed. My father flew out of his seat and rushed to my side. He was saying something and but I couldn't hear him. I was too scared to notice the house shake or the dice that landed on the board vibrate uncontrollably. I couldn't hear anything for a split second. Then I saw it. I saw them.

My eyes darted open and I felt the sweat on the my forehead form. My vision was getting back into place and I saw my entire family crowded around me, fear written on their faces. Wait, fear? Shouldn't they be more worried? But I had to tell them. They had to get out of here.

"Get to the basement," I said, more of a demand then anything else. They didn't move at first. "Now!" They had to go. They had to be safe. My mother grabbed my brother's wrist flinging him out of the room and down to the basement. But my father pulled my up quickly, rushing me up towards my room

.

He raided through my closet frantically, yanking out random clothes and stuffing them inside my messenger bag. The house was still shaking, but I was blind. I was so blind.

He pushed the bag filled with clothes. What the hell was going on? "Dad," I started, "What are you--"

"You need to leave Ali," he said quickly. Well gee, **_thanks._** "Get! Now!"

Stumbling down the stairs with nothing but confusion and feeling disowned in a way, I was getting more and more fearful. Something was happening, something inhumane and supernatural. It wasn't just a hunch either, it's like I **knew.** There's a difference between guesses and facts. And this was a fact.

I started running towards the front door and one second later I was on the floor, my back connecting with the hard, wood ground. I hadn't slipped, I felt as though I was pushed. I groaned in a pain and used all my strength to push myself up. But I didn't see my front door; I didn't even see **a wall.** The whole front side of my house had disappeared.

I sat there on the floor, my mouth ajar, gawking at the scene played before me. I started trembling with fear, I had no clue what was going on here. I stood up, kicking some of the debris of wood with my foot.

"Is that her?" I heard a deep voice ask from far away. I snapped my head up, digging my nails into my book bag. The street before that was once empty was now filled with at least fifteen people, all differently clothed in black. One man, who seemed way older than the rest, was in the front of them all, was wearing a metal hat that went covered the majority of his face. His eyes were piercing into mine and I shuttered. I knew who they were. They were mutants. All of them.

So I turned around and ran. I ran fast and I ran out of the house, now through what used to be my back door. "Get her!" I heard someone shout and then the quickening footsteps of others following me. My heart was pounding against my chest and I could feel the adrenaline in my veins. What did they want with me?

I ran faster, the fear of people running after me only quickening my pace, and down the street to a batch of woods. Maybe I could lose them all. Every time I wanted to stop, just to peek over my shoulder, I thought better of it and continued to run. I don't know how long I did that, everything else was blur. It must have been hours because before I knew it, the sun began to set over the horizon. My legs, which should have been dead, were still pumping harder and harder against the mulch and leaves.

With the wind beating against my face and branches of trees scratching my body, I closed my eyes. I felt the beat of my heart and the blood surge throughout my body. And the last thing I remember is wanting to be in a safe place, where I could stop running.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rogue!" came a child's voice from the basketball court. "A little help?"

Rogue looked up from her book and noticed a basketball perched by her feet. She smiled awkwardly as she picked it up with her gloved hands and tossed it back to the young boy. He returned the smile and went on to play with his friends.

She looked around at everyone who was embracing the cool air on this afternoon as she had been. School was done for the day and all the students were outside, whether it was playing games with friends or just enjoying the day by sitting on the grass. It was almost too per--

The shake of the ground beneath her made her lose her balance and fall off the bench she was sitting on. The sky, once filled with light yellows and patches of pink, had now darkened to a shade of disgusting coal. Everyone stopped speaking and it took a moment for Rogue to realize what they were all paying close attention to.

A bright aqua figure was glowing in the middle of the courtyard. The beam of light surrounding the object went straight up into the dusty clouds, emitting enough light as if it had just been 8 in the morning. Everyone's eyes were transfixed on the light, the colors.

And then it faded away within a second, leaving the object to lay helpless on the floor.

_Dear God...is that a girl?_

* * *

I woke up to the sound of beeping. I opened my eyes but only to close them tightly shut again because of the florescent white light. I tried to take in my surroundings without opening my eyes. I knew I was laying down; had I been asleep?

I wearily opened my eyes again, this time slower. I groggily sat up and felt the blanket around me fall down to my waist. I took this time to look around. The walls were made out of metal, no pictures or decorations around them. Behind me there were machines, each one giving off a different beeping sound. Then beside them were different viles of liquids all multi-colored and unrecognizable. Was I in a lab?

My throat felt dry. I felt like I was on an operating table, as if I was some sick scientific experiment. My eyes scanned over to my wrists, each injected with a needle. I cringed and felt like vomiting. I hated needles, I loathed them.

I tore them out of my wrists, disregarding the pain that I hit my body. And then it came at me; last night's events. The house, the mutants, my family. Me running away from it all, when I could have helped. The fear and anxiety was building up. I didn't know where I was, who to contact, everything I had known for seventeen years of my life no longer survived. I had never been so scared in my life.

I brought my legs up to my chest and screamed, feeling completely helpless. The lights above me started to flicker on and off, like they were about to burst. The viles started shaking. The machines beside me blew, the screens turning black like they were out of power. I cried and screamed again, my only answer to what was going on. My eyes were burning and my body began to tingle. Was this fear? Was this helplessness? I just wanted to go home, I just wanted to go back.

"Alixandra," I heard a soothing voice. "Relax. You are in good hands." His voice calmed me down. I didn't know who this person was but he sounded like my father. I started to breathe in and out, trying to catch my breath. The lights around me had finally stopped flickering and everything else went back to normal. But I still kept my legs up in my chest and my head down.

"Alixandra," said the voice again. "We won't harm you. Could you look at me?" It wasn't a demand but a soft question. I wiped my eyes and face, getting rid of the stray tears, then looked at the man. He was bald, but had the friendliest face I had seen in awhile. He was sitting in a wheelchair, I hadn't expected that.

He smiled at me. "Good," he said calmly, "Now I can see your face." I gulped and looked behind him. There stood another man standing by the door. He had long sideburns and messy brown hair. He was wearing a leather jacket and was watching me intently, like I was some sideshow freak. It was kind of creepy but I had to trust myself. If I had wished I was somewhere safe, and this is where I appeared, it had to be.

I looked next to the guy with sideburns over to the kid who I had first noticed here. The one with the blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked around my age and was watching me just as the other guy was.

"Now Alixandra," the guy in the wheelchair said and I focused on him, "I'm Charles Xavier. You're in the Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. I would like to talk to you in my office, if that's alright? I see these surroundings make you uncomfortable." I nodded, I didn't trust myself to talk now.

I pushed the blanket off of me, revealing my dirt stained jeans. At least no one had changed me, **that** would have been creepy. I slid off the bed that I was on and stood up. I felt so refreshed, like I had slept for weeks. I stretched and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Ready?" Xavier asked. I nodded again. "Oh before we leave, this is Logan," he said pointing towards the man with the sideburns, "And this is Bobby, around your age I presume?" I nodded and did my best to smile at them both. "Right this way Ali." I walked past Logan and Bobby, who just ended up following Xavier and I anyway. We walked up to his office, as I took in the scenery. The outside of the building was beautiful, but the inside was simply amazing.

Xavier took me into an office, his I'm guessing, and motioned for me to sit down. I sat in one of the leather chairs and felt at ease. He wheeled behind his desk and clasped his hands together, but was still smiling at me. Logan and Bobby walked inside the room, guarding the door. I raised an eyebrow at them but ignored their presence.

"I'm so glad you finally came Alixandra," Xavier said.

...Finally?

"Look," I breathed out. This was the first time I was actually starting to speak and my voice sounded foreign, "I don't even know why I'm here, I mean I do, but," I paused, "I don't."

Xavier waited for me to continue. "Well, I don't know," I said. "I don't know anything."

"What do you remember?"

I sighed and leaned back further into the chair. "I don't want to talk about it." No one would believe what I had to say. It was too ridiculous. Or maybe I just wanted to pretend it never happened.

Xavier nodded but did not look angered with my response. "It's alright. But may I ask you a question?"

"I don't see why not."

"Did your parents ever tell you of your abilities?"

"What abilities?"

Xavier remained silent. I looked over at Logan and Bobby and they gave me questioning looks.

"That you are mutant my dear."

I gawked at him. Me? A mutant? Mutants destroyed my life, my family, my house. I didn't want to be one of them. They ruined everything for me. No. I wasn't one! I wouldn't accept this. I knew it was wrong of me to judge them all off the bat, but look at what just happened. How could I accept this?

I was growing an temper. This was bullshit. "Alixandra," Xavier said, "They were a group of bad mutants who did this to you--"

"NO," I said, balling my hands into fists. "**No.** I'm not one of them. I-I can't be."

"Being a mutant isn't bad," I heard Logan said defensively.

I was so engrossed in anger, I whisked my hand out towards Logan. His body flew back, barreling through the wall and down the remainder of the hall. I remained motionless, staring at my hand as it was outstretched like that then at the hole that I had created in the wall. Oh my God. What had I done? This wasn't some random event. This was all my fault. Because I'm a freak.

I grabbed my book bag and ran out of the office. By now a majority of people had come out to see what the commotion was about. I was so embarrassed, yet I was too angry to deal with that emotion as well. I pushed people out of my way as I glided down the hall. I seemed so experienced at running away now, it was like my second nature.

I heard a couple of people whisper, "What **is** she?" or "What the hell is her problem?" I couldn't take it anymore, I felt like I was being suffocated with their talk. I didn't want to be like this, I just wanted to be normal.

I burst through the front door, my feet hitting the outside ground. Where was I? I didn't know. I had left the mansion, running away not only from my last hope, but my only source of food and shelter. I bust open the large gate and ran further and further away from the school.


	3. Chapter 3

I reached the front gate of the mansion, and finding only to my dismay, that the front gate was sealed shut, looking high and intimidating. I sighed and kicked the dirt, frustrated. I hadn't eaten anything since I woke up, no telling how long I had been asleep, and with the news from the Professor -- today hadn't been a good day.

I had decided to go back to the school. It took me a couple of hours of sitting on cold hard dirt that I needed somewhere to stay, and someone who could help me. The Professor was the only one I could trust at this point in time and he seem warm hearted enough. The only problem now was that I looked like a complete idiot standing outside a closed school in the middle of the night, that I'd have to apologize probably to everyone, and, if I haven't mentioned this already, I'm also the biggest jackass on the entire Earth.

"Can I help you?"

I yelped in fear and gripped my bag nervously. I turned around quickly, whacking my face with my hair in a swift move, and hoping it wasn't some pervert.

And there he was. Tall, blonde, with broad shoulders and strong face. His blue eyes shone in the dark and illuminated his face. He wore a long brown coat but I could see the formation of his muscular arms underneath it. I stood there, speechless and in shock. He was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Boys were honestly the last thing on my mind at the moment, but I couldn't help but gawk at his overwhelming beauty. For once, my heart beat accelerated for something other than fear.

I regained my speech. "I need to get in," I said, cocking my head towards the mansion and trying to mess up on my words.

He smiled. "The professor knew you'd come back."

He had been waiting for me like a watchdog. I faltered. "Then open the gate."

He came over and inserted a key into the gate's lock. "I'm Angel by the way," he said, looking over at me, before pushing the gate open and leading me inside. "What's your name?"

He made my heart flutter and my stomach churn when he spoke. Add this guy to my increasingly growing list of problems. "Ali," I said as we made our way inside. We didn't speak the rest of the walk, into the building, then into the professor's office, where he sat behind his desk before, smiling warmly at me, even after my little charade.

"Thank you Angel. You may leave," the Professor said and Angel left the room. "Welcome back Alixandra."

"I'm sorry," I blurted out, my eyes grazing the floor, not having enough courage to look him in the face. I felt like dirt. Digusting, cold dirt. How had I managed to mess up so many times in one day? Was there a world record for this?

He chuckled lightly. "No need to apologize. Your reaction was actually quite normal," he said. "Would you like me to show you to your room? You seem tired."

"Okay," I said, standing up. The professor smiled and we exited the room. He led me down a long corridor, then turned to the right, standing before a wooden door.

"Here is your key Ali. Sleep well," he said, gave me another smile, then turned around and left. I opened the door and walked in, finding the the bed made and some sheets and towels placed on a desk in the nearby corner, as if it had been waiting for me this entire time.

The room was nicely furnished, with medium sized bed in the middle, a closet with enough space, a window over looking the garden outside, the desk where I could get some work done if I even planned on staying for that long.

I glanced over at the window and a thought grazed my mind. I used to have a window in my room. Every night before I went to sleep I would climb out and sit on my roof, just sitting under the stars and feeling complete bliss. Feeling as if this was a moment of perfection and that every problem I had that day would simply fade away.

So I threw off my shoes and opened the window, sliding out, my feet touching the roof tiles. I carefully climbed to the top floor of the roof, trying not to disturbing anyone in the rooms below.

When I reached the top, I turned around and sat down, bringing my knees to my chest and resting my chin on knee. I stared out across the garden, the fountain, the forest in the distance. I breathed in the cool air and felt myself relax. The forest in the distance was mystical in the night and the stars above me cast a light glimmer on the top of the trees.

"You found my spot," I heard a familiar voice say. Well. There goes my relaxation.

I turned my head around to find Angel standing there, smiling. He joined me, sitting next to me, and letting his legs hang over the edge. Much to my dismay, his presence brought a serene feeling instead of the anxiety I had been expecting.

"Did you just get here today?" he asked, after a long, silent pause.

"Yeah." I didn't plan on revealing anything else about my travel here, so I didn't carry on with an explanation.

"Why are you here?" he asked me.

"What--you want me to leave already?"

He laughed softly and got nervous from messing up on his words. "No I meant, why are you here? In the school?"

I paused. I couldn't exactly tell him what happened. It was too emotional for me to handle with right now. "I don't know," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I really don't." I looked at him to see him staring back at me.

"How don't you--"

"It's getting late I should get some sleep," I said quickly, standing up then descending down the roof. "It was nice talking to you Angel." And then I slipped into my bedroom before he had the chance to say goodbye.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up early the next day, around six in the morning according to the alarm that sat on my desk. I leaped out of bed, feeling unkempt and unclean when I realized that I had slept in the dirty clothes from the night before. And from a couple of days ago. I made a disgusted face, grabbed some fresh clothes and a towel, and slowly opened my bedroom door to avoid making any noise. I looked down the corridor, saw that no one else was awake, and quietly stepped out.

I walked down for a minute and was satisfied that I wasn't too far away from the bathrooms. I pushed the door to the Women's Room open and found that there were showers located in there as well. I quickly showered because I still didn't want anyone to notice my appearance. I knew I already didn't have a good reputation here. Who likes someone who flings someone else through a wall?

I did however truly enjoy the hot water and scrubbing off my reminder of the horrible past. I got out and tip-toed back to my room, still remaining unseen. I decided to attempt to do my hair, brushing it multiple times and actually applying make-up. I might as well look presentable when everyone decides to glare at me.

I looked at the clock in the corner of my room and saw that it was around 7:00 AM. I shrugged my shoulders and hoped that breakfast would be served, considering my growling stomach was gnawing my insides. I grabbed a light gray hoodie and a book that I found by the bedside, just for the hell of it, and walked out of my room.

It was quiet out in the hallway and I tried to walk silently, quite aimlessly also considering I didn't know where to go.

However after ten minutes of wandering and dodging people, my nose picked up the smell of freshly cooked food. I smiled and my mouth watered. I scampered over to where the food was and saw a buffet line of different delicacies; eggs, bacon, sausages, muffins, assorted cereals, and juices galore. I grabbed myself a muffin, bagel, and fruits. This was simply heavenly.

I walked through the door nearby, tray in hand and head down as I concentrated on not messing up my grip, but my steps slowly stopped as I noticed that the noise from conversations of multiple students slowly diminish. My head, bit by bit, lifted and my eyes gazed around. Apparently I walked into the seating area, because groups of students were seated around, eating their breakfast. Well, they _were_. Now they were just looking at me.

I even noticed a group of, what looked like, teachers stop talking as well. Everyone just kept staring at me dumbfoundly, as if I had a gun in one hand and a victim in the other.

Now I've done a lot of hard things in my life. But walking through that eating area to get to the outside was by far the worst thing I've ever experienced. I've never been put into a position where I couldn't handle the outcome or been stared at like that by so many people. I felt unwanted and insecure by just glances from people that I didn't even know. This was probably why I didn't have a social life to begin with – to avoid situations like this.

I hurriedly walked to the nearest exit and pushed opened the door that lead to the outside.

It was a nice day, breezy and full of sunshine, that and a few kids were sitting outside, which meant less people. I walked under a nearby tree and sat down, putting my food next to me and opening my book. I didn't know what time classes around here started, and I hadn't bothered to ask.

I picked at my food every now and then, but kept my head down, reading. I was so oblivious to everything else around me, I hadn't notice others walk by or look down at me. Or join me.

"Hey there."

I looked up to see Angel sitting next to me and watched as he popped one of my grapes into his mouth. He chewed and smiled. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore him, considering last night's events on the roof had been a little embarrassing.

He continued to snatch at my food. I couldn't resist speaking. "A little hungry?" I asked, looking over at him, cocking my eyebrow.

He smiled and it made me melt. "Maybe," he said. He cleared his throat. "Hey look."

I looked up and strayed away from my book.

"That was pretty bad in there," he said, referring to the eating area. "I just want to let you know that they were just curious about you. We've never seen anything like you before."

Like me? Was I the equivalent of a hurricane in a pack of rainy days? Did I stick out that much?

"Yeah well. I guess I'll just get used to it," I said. I decided to change the subject. "What can you do?"

"What can I do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why are you here?"

"Oh." He seemed a little uneasy, but he slowly took off the brown coat that he had been wearing since last night. What he uncovered was something that I hadn't expected in a million years: wings. Giant, glorious, angelic wings. How on God's green Earth had I missed _those_? He covered them before I could marvel at them some more.

"Those," I stammered. "Are beautiful."

His face grew a little rosy and his gaze fell to the floor. "Thanks."

We sat there in silence for awhile but the sound of a bell broke us out of our trance.

"Oh, uhm," Angel started. "The Professor wanted to see you. C'mon, I'll take you to him."

He helped me up and together we started the long journey to the Professor's office. I tried as best as I could to ignore everyone's eyes and that awkward silence but it was too much to endure. By the time we reached his office, I felt as if I had just run a marathon. It was only the morning and my body felt physically exhausted.

"Hello Alixandra," Professor Xavier said as I entered. Angel had left, probably to go to his classes, and I wished he hadn't.

I sat down the leather chair across from his desk and crossed my legs. "Hi," I said meekly.

I looked over and noticed that Logan was sitting on the dark couch by the window. He had a stern expression on his face and I smiled weakly at him. "Uhm," I murmured at him, "S-Sorry. About the whole...throwing you through a wall thing..."

"No problem," he replied tonelessly.

"Anyway," Professor Xavier said, "How are you today Alixandra?"

"Peachy," I said sarcastically and I rested my chin the palm of my hand.

He smiled at me as if he enjoyed my sarcasm. "Now I need to discuss with you something very serious. I need to know that you can handle it."

I hesitated but replied with a, "Yeah." I honestly think I can take anything now. I thought I was handling the destruction of my past pretty good, you know, considering I haven't killed myself or inflicted pain upon anyone else.

"Now," Professor Xavier said. "There are people looking for you, which is why I want you to stay here and remain under my supervision and protection. There are forces out there greater than you think. These people think that you, Alixandra, are that greater force."

I must have had a _what-have-you-been-smoking_ look spread across my face because he continued, "I am not joking my dear. Your potential in your abilities are something others only dream of. You don't realize it yet, but there is so much that you can do."

"As...in?"

"You flung me through a wall for one thing," came Logan's voice from the back of the room. Was he ever going to let that go?

"And I'm _sorry_ for that—"

"Alixandra." The Professor's stern voice switched my attention to him. "I would like to show you what you don't think you have."


	5. Chapter 5

The Professor had taken me to a special room that he had himself built underneath the school. At first I was a little skeptical, after hearing the news he told me, I wasn't sure I could handle anymore. But my curious mind couldn't help but wonder what I could do. I always knew I was, well, a little different than others, but to have powers that others longed to have? I was just a teenage girl for god's sake. I've never even had a boyfriend. What made me so special?

Professor Xavier had explained what was going to happen. This room was somewhat of a simulator. He was not going to be far away, so if I ever needed him, he could be there. He was going to simulate a scenario in front of me, the room would twist and contort into whatever environment he programmed. He was going to see what happened when I was put under a dangerous situation. In other words, what happens when you provoke me.

I grew a little weary and nervous when the doors behind me closed shut and I was left alone in this room. It was plain to begin with, navy metal walls and floors covering every surface. The butterflies in my stomach multiplied and my eyes shifted to every possible space, as if I was expecting some sort of machine gun to magically appear and shoot rounds at me.

The room slowly began to change and I realized I was in the middle of a desert. Orange sand vacated the space that used to be an unattractive blue and the room grew stuffier as if the heat from the sun was actually penetrating around me. I was too distracted with the changing conditions to notice a group behind me slowly approach.

I was hit from the back in surprise and my body fell and rolled against the sand. I picked myself up quickly and looked around only to realize that I couldn't see anyone. _What the hell--_

But I was pushed again and shoved against the ground. So he sets me up against invisible forces? This was my first time. Let's be a little lenient.

By the time I was shoved for the umpteenth time, my rage finally grew out of control. I was being pushed into sand by something I couldn't see and I had had enough of this.

When I landed on the floor, I rolled over quickly so that I was on my back and did something I never really understood why. My right hand shot forward, my palm opened, and a surge of aqua light bolted from my hand. A squeal that wasn't made from me was heard and a boiling sound.

Finally the light and the squealing stopped. I kicked back my legs and staggered to stand up. My hair stuck to the sides of my face and I breathed out shallow breathes. What the hell just happened? This had never happened before and I felt foreign in my own body. I grabbed my right wrist and look at my palm. It looked perfectly normal.

I noticed the sand beneath my feet fade away and be replaced by soft, green grass. I looked up and realized I was in a meadow, one right of the movies, with small flowers running across the ground and the cool wind blew across the area. The sky was a light blue and the clouds were white and puffy, providing enough shade for what looked like a perfect day.

The ground shook violently and it tore the blissful scenery in half. The once beautiful sky turned into a rusty brown and I could hear the sounds of animals hum in fear. I could see something approaching in the distance and I squinted my eyes to get the picture clearer.

What looked like a pack of rabid, inane, and maniac dogs were heading my way. There had to be a least two dozen of them, all in a line and their eyes locked on me. Drool and foam seeped out of their mouths in a demented way and the floor shook with each lunge they took to further their advances.

Instead of what I would have usually done, which was scream frantically and get the hell away, I decided to try something new. If the Professor was right, and I did have some crazy powers that were extraordinary, why not try it out? Why not see what potential I supposedly had?

I closed my eyes and focused all my thoughts, energy, and power together. I tried to gather everything I could possibly have and bundle it all together. My fingertips began to turn numb and I felt a tingling sensation cascade throughout my entire body. My eyes burned underneath my eyelids and I felt lighter, as if gravity no longer decided to occupy my time.

My eyes bolted open in a quick manner and I flung my hands out chaotically. All I remember seeing is the color of aqua and then it turned deathly silent. Nothing moved and neither did I.

My body hit the floor and I curled up into a ball. My body was in so much pain and I couldn't see anything, as if I was blind. I was shaking uncontrollably and I could taste the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. And then, slowly, I faded away.

* * *

My eyes opened to see a familiar metal ceiling hanging above me. I didn't need to hear the medical machines and smell the sterilization of the room to realize I was back where I had first started off at this school. I stretched underneath the thin sheet, flung my legs over the bed, and picked myself up.

"Have a nice nap kid?"

I grabbed my gray hoodie that was resting on a nearby chair. "Hi Logan."

He smirked as he leaned against the metal wall. "That was some performance you gave."

"Guess I just wanted to do a little something special and throw myself into a state of unconsciousness," I said sarcastically. "Give the kids a little treat."

He chuckled and he pressed a button on the wall to activate the sliding doors. We walked out together and down the hallway into an elevator. I had no idea where we were but I had long since decided to never ask questions again.

"Hey so," I asked nonchalantly, "if you don't mind me asking, what the hell happened?"

Logan turned his head to look over at me. Then he shrugged and took a cigar out of his pocket to light. "Well," he said, once he finished lighting it and put away the lighter. "It's hard to explain it really. Let's just say you killed the dogs. And managed to knock out the power of the school for a little too."

"Oh," I said and nodded, as if we were talking about something as normal as golf or the weather. "Alright then."

The elevator doors opened and we entered the main room of the school. Logan stepped out and hastily walked away from me, leaving me alone, in the daytime, in the middle of a school that I had only walked through once. And that one time had been with my head down and my eyes slightly shut. And if my luck couldn't get any better, a bell on the top of the wall rung and students filed out of their classrooms, laughing and holding conversations.

Except they all ended when they saw me standing there, confused and slightly agitated. The kids decided to take a ten feet gap away from me and walk in other directions in order to not pass me. I sighed and rolled my eyes and wondered if the Professor had this scenario stored in his stupid room.

"Hey," I heard someone say from behind me.

I turned around to see Angel standing there, a school book in one hand and a bag slung over his shoulder. "Hey," I said uneasily.

"So I'm going to take a wild guess and say you knocked out the power in the school earlier today?"

My eyebrows shot up and I gave him a questioning look. "How did you know that?"

"The light bulbs flashed to an aqua color before they shot out," he said. "The color of your eyes."

I sighed and placed my hand on my forehead in an exhausting manner. "Well," I said. "That's lovely."

He smiled warmly and looked to see everyone giving me strange looks and whispering. He then looked back down at me. "Hey," he said and I brought my eyes up to him. He leaned in a little closer so that I could only hear what he was saying. "Don't be bothered by everyone else."

"It's not as easy as it looks, I assure you," I said and brought my eyes back down to the floor, where they seemed to be whenever I was out in the hallways.

I saw his hand hesitate before he placed it on my shoulder. Great, so he didn't know whether he could touch me or something? What did he think was going to happen? I was going to zap him and put him in a coma?

"Look," he said. "Why don't I introduce you to some people I know you'll like?"

"How do you know I'll like them?"

"It's just a hunch I have. So what do you say?"

I wasn't good with meeting new people and I wasn't in favor of meeting anyone here really, considering their first impressions had not been something I was keen to. But I'm sure Angel had good taste in people; he seemed nice enough. And besides, he was the closest thing I had to a mutual friend at the school and I didn't want to disappoint him, even if it meant being stared at awkwardly again.

"Alright. Fine."


	6. Chapter 6

The approaching multiple footsteps made everyone in the secluded group, each basking in the sun's warm rays and situated on the grass in the courtyard, look up and break their focus from their textbooks. They were all different looking, yet all around the same age.

"Hey you guys," Angel said. He nudged my back to scoot me forward when he noticed I was lagging behind. "This is Ali."

I meekly waved and gave a weak smile.

"Hi, I'm Rogue," said a girl with long black hair yet two strands of gray hair cascading down her face.

"Bobby," said a guy sitting close to her. He smiled at me warmly and his light blonde hair ruffled with the oncoming wind.

"Kitty," said the last girl with brown hair and light brown eyes and who once finished introducing herself, went back to reading her textbook.

Angel sat down, but not before grabbing my forearm and dragging me down with him. I felt a sting of awkwardness fill the air, which I figured was going to happen sooner or later. An outsider had joined their usual group, a group which had previously been silent because their stray book bags and books allowed me to think that they were studying before Angel and I had intruded in on them.

"So do you like it here Ali?" asked Rogue.

"It's growing on me," I said, and I took the opportunity to lean back on the tree that was close to me.

She smiled at me. "You'll get used to it. It's really a great place here." She looked down at the bottle of water she had brought out with her and her smile faltered. The bottle was sweating with water droplets from the heat. "Bobby?"

Bobby looked over at her then followed her gaze down to her water bottle. "Sure," he mumbled and placed his hand on the bottle. At once, the bottle froze lightly and he let go.

"Thanks," she said and Bobby went back to reading his textbook.

My eyes couldn't help but jump from the water bottle to his hands. I had never really seen a mutant perform his abilities without hesitation at all, like it was so accustomed to him. I guess I had a lot to get used to around here.

"What are you guys studying for?" Angel asked.

"Chemistry," Kitty muffled and flipped the page of her book to continue what she was reading.

"Anyway," Rogue said and she looked back over at me. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you throw Logan through a wall?"

I chuckled because of the ridiculousness of the question and Rogue's playful smile. "Don't tell me I'm known as the girl who threw him through the wall."

She laughed and closed her textbook, as if signaling there was no way she was going back to studying. "Hey, I personally appreciate it. I've been wanting to throw him through a wall for awhile."

Angel joined in on the conversation and knelt in to contribute. But when he did that, his arm lightly touched mine. For some reason, my face flushed but I dropped my head to hide my expression. I gripped the grass to try and shake it off.

"Logan flying through a wall: Priceless," he said.

Rogue and Angel laughed, obviously enjoying Logan getting hurt, but then Rogue stopped.

"Ali," she said. "You're turning the grass blue..."

"Huh--"

Sure enough, the grass that I had been gripped turned into a light blue color and was spreading throughout the courtyard. I grimaced and yanked my hands away, the grass slowly fading back into its natural color.

"Sorry," I said, embarrassed.

"You okay?" Angel asked.

"Yeah fine," I said. "Just...experimenting?" It was the best excuse I could come up with in such a short amount of time and I was pretty sure a six year old wouldn't even believe it. But hey, it was better than

'Oh hey. Yeah. You touched me. Therefore, I made the grass blue. Funny how things work out.'

He raised an eyebrow at me and the corners of his mouth turned into a smile.

"Hey Ali," Rogue said. "Can you turn my shoes blue?"

I whipped my head to look at her with sudden curiosity and confusion. "Are you serious?"

"Well they used to be blue," she said. "But they've faded. And that was a pretty color on the grass."

I looked at her old shoes to her face. She was really _was _serious. I couldn't help but let out a large burst of laughter at the hilariousness of the situation. I grabbed my stomach and leaned against the tree as I continued to laugh uncontrollably. The mere image of me turning some girl's shoes a different color just struck me as totally insane and amusing.

Rogue chuckled and she grabbed my shoulders with hands that I hadn't noticed before, but were hidden in black gloves. "I'm serious!" she kept saying and she laughed with me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angel watch me the whole time I was laughing with Rogue and the grin that was spread across his face.

"Okay okay," I said, once I regained myself. "I can try. But don't get into the habit of me turning your property blue."

Rogue nodded and I reached over to touch her shoes. I didn't know what to do, so I just closed my eyes and tried to image her shoes turning into the light aqua that I knew all too well.

It only took a second before I heard her squeal, "Ohh!"

I shot open my eyes and sure enough her shoes had turned the color blue. She laughed and hugged me. "Thanks a million."

"That's what I'm here for," I said and I smiled.

"Turning shoes blue, one at a time," announced Bobby who had been the scenario unfold the entire time with an exuberant face.

I mock glared at him and was about to retort something back at him when an incoming shadow made me pay attention elsewhere. I looked up to see Logan standing there, arms crossed over his chest, and sporting a motorcycle jacket despite the heat.

"Hey kid," he said, and motioned his head to me. "Professor wants to see you."

"Alright," I said and I pushed myself off the ground. I brushed the grass off my jeans, waved goodbye to the group, and followed Logan inside the building.

"I see you're talking to other people," he said, I'm guessing deciding to make idle conversation as we made the trip to the Professor's office.

"Little known fact, I like to have a social life," I said.

He gave off a small smile. "Well they're a good group. Stick with them."

"As opposed to?"

But he didn't get to answer my question because once we reached Professor's office doors, he opened one of them, and left me alone as he went back down the hallway. I sighed and walked inside, closing the doors behind me. The Professor was seated behind his giant, mahogany desk as usual and I took my usual seat in the leather chair opposite of him.

"Hi Professor," I said, smiling.

He returned the favor and said, "Hello Alixandra. How are you feeling?"

"A little shaky," I admitted, but he didn't have to know it was because of Angel. "But fine nonetheless."

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday," he said. "In the room."

I nodded and waited for him to continue.

"I don't think you realize yet the full amount of your potential. I've noticed from your school records that you have finished all the classes you need, except one, which is English. You can take that here, but instead of taking other classes, I'd like you to work with me in controlling your powers for the time being."

I was silent for a minute, as I thought it over, but I didn't think of any reason it could harm me in any way. I usually wanted to stay in school, but after all that I've find out, having a normal job in the outside world seemed like it wasn't going to happen.

"Alright," I said. "That seems good."


	7. Chapter 7

Kitty slowly reached an index card in the pile of cards that were spread across the grass outside. I sat on my knees, in anticipation of what she was going to say. She looked at the card, looked at us, then read, "What is the definition of...halcyon?"

"Peaceful!" shouted Rogue and Kitty nodded her head.

"Whoo!" Rogue and I exclaimed in joy and giving each other high fives. Bobby and Angel sighed in frustration as Kitty put a point in our score box instead of theirs.

"And Rogue and Ali are in the lead," Kitty said. "_Still._"

Rogue and I smiled and did a little dance in satisfaction. "Next word!" I said in excitement.

Kitty reached for another index card, read it, then looked at us. "What is the definition of...schadenfreude?"

"What the hell?!" Angel asked. "Is that even a word?!"

"Satisfaction in the misfortunes of others!" I shouted and Kitty nodded again.

I high fived Rogue and we let out a victory chant as Kitty put yet another tally mark into our score box. I didn't know studying for what seemed like a idiotic English vocabulary test could be so fun, especially since Rogue and I were whooping Bobby and Angel's ass.

"I'm feeling so schadenfreude," Rogue said, chuckling and I joined in with her.

Angel glared at us in a playful way. "Go home," I said with a sly smile at him.

"She's trash talking my team!" Bobby countered with a grin. "Take a point off!"

"Hey!" I exclaimed and couldn't help but laugh. "You can't take the heat!"

"She's provoking me!" Bobby said. "Hold her down!"

Angel lunged towards me, grabbing my arms and holding me tightly across his chest. "I'm afraid I have to hold you for the rest of the game," he said. "You're becoming a distraction."

Hey, I didn't mind. But I gave him a sinister look and stuck my tongue out at him.

"What is the definition of paean?"

"A song!"

"God dammit!"

* * *

"Alright you guys. I'm pretty sure we've come to the conclusion that Rogue and Ali won," Kitty said, looking at the scoreboard, which had over thirty tally's in our score box and only eight in Bobby and Angel's. I broke away from Angel, who I had been using to lean on his shoulder, and hugged Rogue in excitement. The light outside was fading away and it was time for us to go back inside. I'm pretty sure we even missed dinner considering we had been so caught up in our game and just talking or playing around.

Angel helped me up and everyone grabbed their book bags and other belongings.

"See you guys later," I said and everyone departed. I walked by myself inside the building, going inside the door that led to the cafeteria to see if I could get some of the extra food that was left from dinner. I only managed to get a sandwich, but that was fine. In the mornings I worked with the Professor in controlling my powers, which usually left me to have a giant appetite after so when lunch time rolled around, I ate everything in sight.

It had been almost a month and a half since I first arrived here and I felt better than ever. I had been working with the Professor almost nonstop and I felt physically improved when I began to gain control over what I could do. We grew so much closer to the Professor, he had become somewhat of a family figure to me, he filled that void I had when I first arrived here. He was someone who truly cared about my well being and helped me whenever I thought I couldn't achieve something. He almost felt like my father.

So far the Professor and I gained control over my telekinesis, so much that I could do it without even looking at the object. We were moving on to bigger weights each and every time now. It had been hard at first, I usually left with a giant migraine and my eyes burning. But it had gotten better. However there were still some abilities that I haven't even touched yet. Because I couldn't work them unless I was under some large amount of pressure or intense feeling.

And besides all that, I had gotten closer with the group I was hanging out with. Rogue was like my best friend, another thing I had lacked when I came here, and we were always together. The staring had stopped as well and I guess the kids just got used to the fact that I was staying here and that there would be no more shows for me to conduct.

And then there was Angel. I tried to avoid it, but it was so hard whenever I was around him. He made me feel different than anyone else here. Of course I had had crushes on other guys before, but Angel was just so unlike anything I've ever experienced. It was so hard to explain, but I've never wanted something so bad. Whether it was just for him to smile at me or bump into me in the hallways, I woke up everyday for that opportunity to happen.

_God I'm retarded._

I had been thinking the whole trip up to my bedroom. I stood outside my room and felt so stupid for feeling that way. It was just a guy. I was getting so worked up over a guy, who probably, _no_, most likely, doesn't feel the same away.

I sighed and brought my head to hit my door. It _was _ridiculous.

I brought my head up and tried to open my door. It was useless of course. I was attempting to balance my sandwich, my bag, my books, and index cards in one hand to try and get one hand free to twist the knob of the door. I struggled and almost ending up dropping everything. Now I could have just used my telekinesis to open the door but I was still used to doing things the normal way, so this thought didn't even pop into my head till later.

I heard a familiar soft chuckle behind me.

I looked over my shoulder to see Angel standing there, arms crossed, and smile on his face. I blew the bangs out of my face and rolled my eyes at him.

"Need help?" he asked.

"That would be greatly appreciated," I said.

He came to my side and pushed open the door to my room. I walked inside and unloaded all the things I had in my arms onto my bed carelessly. My arms had grown tired from all that weight and I wasn't going to take the time to nicely place them around.

I heard Angel laugh again and I turned around to find him in my doorway. He was still here?

"Thanks," I said, motioning my head to the door that he opened. It was little awkward, I had to admit. I didn't know whether to invite him in or if he'd just done a random act of kindness and was going to leave soon. So I grabbed my book bag and put it in the corner of my room to pretend I was acting calm and collected, like a handsome guy stood in my doorway all the time.

"Hey," Angel said. I turned my head around to see him clutching my door knob nervously but his eyes fixated on me.

"Hi?" I responded, slightly confused.

He opened his mouth to say something but then shut it, as if he thought it was better not to say what he was about to. "Have a good night." And with that he turned around and left, leaving me alone in my room, confused, and wondering what the hell just happened because that was obviously not what he meant to say.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ali!" someone shouted outside my bedroom door. They had been knocking repeatedly for minutes but I had ignored it due to the fact that it was the weekend and, like every normal teenager, I just wanted to sleep in and not be forced awake. But it looked like that was not going to happen and that, considering it was a girl's voice from outside my door, Rogue was not going to stop until I answered her.

"Aliiii!" she whined outside the door and she banged louder. "Open up!"

Deciding to be extremely lazy, I picked up my hand and opened the door with my powers, then threw my comforter over my head and prayed that she would leave. I didn't even know what time it was, but I knew it was _way_ too early for any sort of social time.

"Finally," she mumbled and I heard her walk in and close the door. "Hey! Don't go back to sleep on me!" She walked to my side and tore off my covers.

"Why?" I grumbled and opened my eyes to see her standing before me.

"We're going to the movies!" she said excitedly.

"What?" It was still to early to register what was going on. "What time is it?"

"It's 9 for God's sake," she said. "We wanted to ask the Professor early and leave before he could change his mind. So let's go! Get ready!"

Well. That sparked my interest. I had never been to the cinema before, my parents had always had a strict rule that I wasn't allowed to go out without them, and I was eager to go.

"Alright alright," I said, groggily but flinging my legs over the bed to stand up. "I'm getting ready."

* * *

While Rogue and Bobby were persuading the Professor to let us go out to the movies, Angel and I decided to grab something small to eat in the mean time. I only grabbed a small carton of cereal and a water bottle, he only getting an apple, and together we went back to his room. I sat on his bed, legs criss crossed and he sat on the opposite end of the bed.

We ate in silence for awhile but it soon started to grow a little awkward. That and Bobby and Rogue were taking a little longer than planned. How long did it take for them to ask a simple question?

"You know I've never been to the movies," I said, then taking a handful of cereal and stuffing it in my mouth.

Angel looked up in surprise. "Well I didn't go to the movies a lot before I came here. But I thought you would have gone a lot."

"Why?" I asked, with a questioning look.

He shrugged. "You look like the type of person who went out every night with groups of friends, had boyfriends, you know. Social butterfly." He waved his hand dismissively.

I couldn't help but let out a giant laugh. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I am not," he said, with a slight smile.

"I wasn't even allowed to go outside without my parents knowing about it."

He _actually_ looked confused. "You serious?"

I nodded as if this should have been a known fact. "I didn't have a social life. Like, at all." The hand that was going to put food in his mouth, the cereal he had stolen from me, stopped in mid-air. "I didn't even have a boy--"

I stopped and my eyes widened. Oh my God, I can't _believe_ I almost came close to telling him I've never had a boyfriend. What the hell possessed me to do that?! It just flowed out of my mouth before I even had time to think about what I was going to say.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Nothing," I quickly snapped. "Nothing." As if my uneasy answer was going to make him think I was going to say something useless. Or maybe I was just trying to convince myself that I was going to say nothing. Either way, it wasn't working out.

"No, you were about to say--"

"Let's go you guys!" Kitty said, appearing in the doorway. "Bobby and Rogue got the okay."

I almost ran up to Kitty and tackled her in a hug. Talk about great timing. I jumped up, threw away my cereal, and was out the door in five seconds. I was not going to keep that conversation going. It was so embarrassing and it was something I wasn't going to discuss with a guy I had a thing for.

But Angel wouldn't let it go. In the hallways, he wanted to know. Walking outside to get into the car, he kept asking. And even on the way there, he wouldn't stop pestering me.

"Just _tell_ me Ali," he asked, smiling mischievously. He was sitting next to me in the back seat, as I was cushioned in between him and Kitty. I crossed my arms and gave him a dirty look.

"Let it go," I whispered sharply for the umpteenth time.

"You know that's never going to happen," he said slyly. "So you might as well--"

I slapped my hand over his mouth before he even had the chance to finish his sentence. He threw his arms around me and bear hugged me so tight I thought my eyes would pop out of my eyes. I yelped but didn't take my hand off his mouth. I'd rather be bear hugged to death than him finding out about my lack of a love life.

"I can stay like this all day," I whispered into Angel's ear.

"Not like I mind."

"We're here!" Bobby exclaimed and, unfortunately, Angel had to let go of me.

We got out of the car and made our way to the movie theater. I felt a little fidgety but I guess it was because it was my first time out with a group of friends without my parents knowing. I even began to feel a little guilty. And it was when we were in line buying the tickets to a movie that I had never heard of or even knew about when I started to feel slightly lightheaded.

Rogue saw my expression and noticed that I looked unsettled. "Hey, Ali," she said softly so that no one else would hear her except me. "You okay?"

I was hoping it was just some sort of random anxiety I was feeling and not something else. I tried my best to nod and smile, assure her that I was fine, just feeling a bit under the weather, that some flu must be going around or something. She seemed to buy what I was spitting out, so she just shook her head in agreement and went to join in on Bobby and Kitty's conversation.

But my stomach was starting to feel worse and I knew something wasn't right. But I wasn't going to spoil their fun just because I felt sick to my stomach. It was unfair, especially since they worked hard to get us all to go out to the movies. No way was I going to be the party pooper.

So I tried my best to ignore my feelings, as unbearable as it was. I couldn't focus in on any of the conversations they were having and I felt detached from my own body. The day that I pictured in my head, one filled with happiness and somewhat normalness, was now far away on a different planet.

"Ali?" I heard Kitty ask. I looked up and tried to look at one of the two Kitty's I was seeing. "Can you grab us some napkins from over there?"

I noticed all of their hands filled with popcorn, sodas, or candies and I didn't remember standing in line or even buying them. Oh man, I _am_ out of it.

"Sure," I said anyway and wobbled my way over to the where they placed the napkins, straws, and other condiments in the center of the lobby of the movie theater. When I got there, I gripped the edge of the counter and closed my eyes, trying to regain my mental state and balance.

"Hello," I heard someone unfamiliar say to me.

I opened my eyes to see a kid my age casually standing next to me. He had wavy brown hair and dark brown eyes. But there was something I didn't like by the way he was talking to me or looking at me. It only worsened the feeling in the pit of my stomach but I kept blocking all the negative thoughts that were flooding my head.

"Hi?" I said wearily.

"What's your name?" he asked. "I've never seen you around here before."

When I just gave him a confused look, considering it was all I could manage because my mouth was so dry, he laughed softly and added, "Sorry, sorry, my name is John." He moved the lighter he had placed in his hand to his jacket pocket, then raised his hand for me to shake.

I just looked at it and would have lifted my hand, but my arms were dead. "I have to go. I'm going to be late for my movie," I said, and attempted to walk past him but he blocked my path.

"What's the rush? Your movie doesn't start for a couple of minutes."

"...How did you know that?"

He didn't answer my question but instead just smiled at me. But I knew that his smile was in no way good intentioned. "You look like you need some fresh air. Want to take a walk outside?"

I shook my head no. "I can't."

"Says who?"

I felt my eyelids droop. "Says me." I tried again to get past him but he wouldn't budge.

"Oh c'mon," he pleaded. "Don't be difficult." He placed his hand on my bicep and I felt a jolt when his skin touched mine. Okay. _Now_ I'm pretty convinced something isn't going right.

I ripped away my arm, now feeling the adrenaline from being scared course through my veins, with all my might and backed away from him. But before I was going to lay it into him, someone else got in my way.

"Can I help you?" Angel asked in the hardest voice I've ever heard him use. He made his way in between the two of us, blocking my view of John..

"Nah," I heard John say. "I was just leaving." And with that he walked away and outside of the movie theater. But not before giving me a wink before he fulled exited.

The rest of the group was over to my side in less than a second. They all looked slightly agitated and fearful seeing that kid. I didn't know who he was, but apparently they did. And by the expression on their faces, it wasn't someone they associated with.

"We need to go," Bobby said and everyone nodded in agreement, except me. "Let's go."

"I--" I said, confused and feeling out of place. But Angel grabbed my arm and we all hurriedly went outside and made our way to the car.

"Why are we leaving?" I asked Angel.

But he didn't answer me. And when I got in the car and asked everybody else, they wouldn't answer me either. I felt unwanted and like it was my entire fault that I ruined this day. There's no worse feeling than knowing that your only group of friends are hiding something from just you. So I stayed silent the whole car ride back, looking out the window. And when we got back to the school, I rushed by them and stayed in my room, skipping lunch and dinner, and wanting to go back home.


	9. Chapter 9

The clock on my desk flashed the numbers 2:17 AM in bright red lettering. It was completely dark outside and nobody in the entire school was awake. Everybody except me. And what was I doing at such an ungodly hour?

Packing.

I was going to leave the school. Sure, it had been great for awhile, but after the incident at the movie theater yesterday I realized that no matter how much I hoped to be normal, it wasn't going to happen. I was never going to be able to leave these school walls for the hell of it without causing some sort of confrontation or disaster to someone else. What was I going to do for the rest of my life? Stay here at the school till I'm forty five?

No. I couldn't do it. The closer I got with people, the more I grew attached to them, the more chance they had of being hurt. I mean, look what happened to my family. They did nothing, their only crime was raising and loving a daughter like me, and they were all killed in a matter of seconds.

If I stayed here, I risked the chance of something like that happening to my friends. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life than having anyone else die because of me. I knew at this point it might sound irrational, but I knew at the movie theater that something wasn't right. That kid, John, gave me the wrong feeling. It made me realize that that group of people who destroyed my past, were never going to stop trying to find me.

Hell, they probably already knew I was here. And why they didn't storm into the school yet and kill everyone else here was a mystery to me.

I didn't even find myself that special in the first place.

Ten minutes later I had packed almost everything I needed into the messenger bag. I looked around the room to take a quick glance to see if I missed anything. Nothing but my English textbook and worksheets were on my desk. Everything seemed to be filed away.

But that's when I realized I had left my book on the roof. At night, if I couldn't sleep or just didn't feel like sleeping at all, I would go out on the roof with a little flashlight and read. And sometimes Angel would be up there too, stretching out his wings or not being able to sleep as well, and we'd talk, laugh, or just sit there in silence as we watched the night. I had long since decided that I would just leave my book up there, I mean there was no point in making it a hassle to bring it in every night when I was just going to take it back up there. And besides, I found a perfect spot in the chimney where I could place it so if it rained, my book wouldn't get wet.

I opened the window to my room silently and stepped out onto the small space of roof. I maneuvered myself around and then hoisted myself up. I saw that nobody else was there and I sighed in relief. I had planned on not saying goodbye to anybody, it seemed simpler that way.

I knelt down by the chimney and saw that my book was not in it's place. I felt around inside the hole, just to make sure, but my eyes were not deceiving me, my book really wasn't there.

I sat back up, frustrated. I wanted at least something to do while I was alone.

"Looking for something?" I heard Angel ask from behind me.

I turned around sharply to see him standing there, my book in his hand and a smile on his face.

God I was going to miss him.

"Let me have it," I said, trying to get my book and leave as quickly as possible.

"Nah," he said and he hid it behind his back. "I don't think I will."

I wasn't going to put up with this. I was already feeling horrible for leaving. "Fine," I said and I turned on my heel and made my way back to my room.

"Hey, wait! Ali, Ali!"

He grabbed my arm and spun me around. His face was contorted into confusion. "What's the matter?"

I yanked back my arm, maybe a little too angrily. "Nothing," I said.

"I don't believe you."

"Then don't."

I tried to make my way back to my room but he just grabbed my arm and spun me back around.

"Ali," he said. "What's going on?"

I hesitated. "I'm leaving," I blurted out. Great. There goes the control of my tongue. Should have worked on controlling what I said with the Professor instead of spending hours controlling my powers.

His face dropped. "_What_?" His hand slowly dropped from it's grasp of my arm.

I stared at him for awhile, feeling my stomach decay internally and the overwhelming feeling of guilt spread throughout my body. I felt so horrible for leaving, now more than ever because of the way his face looked completely hurt.

"Don't leave," he whispered. I shook my head no, unable to say anything, but he just kept repeating, "Ali, don't leave. Please don't."

"I have to!" I exclaimed and I threw my arms up. "Don't you see? The longer I stay here, the more I grow attached to people, the more chances they have for getting hurt. I don't know why these people out there want me, but they do, and staying here isn't helping anyone but myself and that's selfish of me to put myself in front of others. I can't let anyone get hurt."

"You don't realize what you're doing," Angel said. "You leaving is still going to hurt them."

"They'll get over it," I said and I looked away from his gaze. I wished this conversation never occurred.

He paused. "I won't."

"Yeah you can Angel! Just pretend I never showed up, that I didn't invade your life, or ruin your day--"

"Is that what this is about? The movie theater?"

"_No_," I said, crossing my arms. "I...I..."

"Ali, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm not going to let you just leave the school and get yourself killed out there. Because you just might," he said.

I hesitated. I knew what he was saying was right, but I felt I knew more. I just wanted him to realize that his life would have been so much better if I never came to the school.

"I have to go," I whispered. And he didn't say anything. I looked at the floor, to avoid eye contact, he looked at my face, wondering why I was doing this.

I turned on my heel and slowly began to walk away. The crunching sound of the gravel beneath my feet seemed louder than ever before, the once beautiful night covered in light stars and scattered with various clouds, seemed hallow and vacant. I never felt more ashamed of myself but I knew this would be the hardest part. I hadn't even been bold enough to look him in the eye the majority of the time.

I was just about to lower myself down to my window when I felt him tug me again.

"Angel--" I started as I swiveled around. But I didn't get time to finish what I was saying. Because he immediately stopped all the functions in my body by laying his lips down on mine. His hands moved to my cheeks as he brought my face close to his. I was too shocked to move or even react.

When he pulled back and just held my face, my eyes poured into his. My breathes came out jagged and uneven, my legs were losing all their power, and I was entirely numb. But God did I love that feeling.

So I leaned in, pressing my lips against his for a second time.


	10. Chapter 10

I hummed the song flowing through the tiny headphones connected to my ears and tapped my pen on my English book in the same rhythm. I was supposed to be studying for a test that was tomorrow, and I knew I already knew all the material, but I was overlooking it anyway. And by overlooking, I meant not paying attention at all and listening to a CD that Rogue had given me instead.

I had the song on full blast and was just gazing at the words written in the textbook nonchalantly. I was too distracted to notice someone coming in and slowly walking towards me in a stealth like manner.

I felt a pair of hands grab my waist and I turned around, frightened because I thought I had been alone in my room. I kicked my leg up and pushed the person in the chest with great force.

And then I saw that it was Angel, who was now holding his chest in pain.

He mouthed an 'Ow' to me and I yelped, hurriedly getting off my bed and throwing an arm around his waist to help him not stagger to the ground.

"Remind me to never scare her," I heard Bobby say to Rogue, both of who were standing by my bedroom door.

I glared at him and helped Angel sit on my bed. Bobby and Rogue joined us, taking their usual positions on the floor by the end of my bed.

"Are you okay?" I asked Angel, sitting next to him and feeling bad that I had just karate kicked him in the chest. It's not like I wanted that to happen, but c'mon. He scared me. And I don't like being scared. Plain and simple.

"I'm fine," Angel huffed out. "It was all Bobby's idea by the way."

I glared at Bobby again. He threw up his hands to surrender. "I swear I didn't know you'd freak out."

"I told them Ali," Rogue said. "I told them not to scare you. But no, I'm just the best friend, what would I know, right?"

Bobby grinned devilishly and I heard Angel chuckle. I moved to sit to the end of my bed and then placed my text book on my lap. Angel switched around and leaned his head against my headboard, stretching his legs out so that his feet where touching both of my thighs.

"So what do you guys want?" I asked, smiling and looking at Bobby and Rogue sitting there. They obviously hadn't planned on studying considering they weren't carrying school books and Kitty wasn't here (she was the only one who could keep us on track while studying. We tended to drift away about ten minutes into it).

"We can't just come in, have Angel getting kicked in the chest, and say hi?" Bobby asked, putting a hand to his heart and looking hurt.

Everyone laughed and I threw a nearby sock at his face. "You are so violent," he said, removing it from his face. "I swear."

"I am not!" I said in my defense. "Right Rogue?"

"Right sweetheart," she said, blowing me a kiss and I returning the favor.

We giggled in unison and I felt Angel move up from his position. He wrapped his arms around me from behind me and I tried not to smile as big as I wanted to.

"Well let's go get something to eat then," Bobby said. "It's about dinner time anyway."

Bobby helped Rogue up and then eventually Angel and I did the same. But when Bobby and Rogue had just left the room, making the turn into the hallway, Angel grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. He kissed me on the lips then slowly detached. He gave me a sweet smile and then threw his arm around my shoulders and we walked out together.

He had told me that he didn't want to kiss me in front of Bobby or Rogue, considering that they couldn't. He didn't want them to feel uncomfortable and I could completely understand that. I really didn't know how Rogue could do it, not being able to touch Bobby. If I couldn't hold Angel, kiss him, hold his hand, I think I'd go crazy.

It had only been a week since Angel had first kissed me, on the rooftop in the middle of the night. Looking back on it, it was probably the happiest moment of my life. Knowing that he wanted me to stay so badly, knowing that he would protect me like he said he would, made all my thoughts of ever leaving disappear. I was almost glad that everything had turned out the way it did. Almost.

After we stood in line and got our food, we retreated outside to our usual spot by the tree. The sun had just begun to set, the bright cast of colors illuminated the sky set for a glorious view and the weather was just right as a cool breeze cascaded around.

I sat next to Angel, who only got an apple to eat, apparently not that hungry, and I began to eat as he rested his arm around my waist. I, on the other hand, got enough food for at least three people. I was starving. I had gotten almost everything on the menu.

"Hey Ali," Rogue said. I looked up from my plate, from which I was stuffing fries down my throat, and met Rogue's gaze. "Have you ever talked to the Professor about becoming a X-Men?"

I swallowed my food and wiped my face. "We've talked about it."

"Do you want to be one?" she asked.

I hesitated. Although helping others was something that I wanted to do, I wasn't all big on the superhero figure that followed it. It's not what I wanted to do, to be quite honest. My main goal was to just beat the shit out of Magneto and all his followers because of what they had done to me. Revenge was sounding so sweet to me. But to do it all the time? I didn't know.

"I don't know yet," I said.

Rogue nodded and I guess that wasn't really the answer she wanted by the look in her eyes. She decided to change the subject, which was good because it was getting slightly awkward.

"How's your training going?" she asked.

"Oh!" I said excitedly. "So good. I think I'm getting a hang of everything now."

"Still turning stuff blue?" Bobby asked.

"Ha, _ha._ You're so funny Bobby."

He winked at me and laughed.

"But no. I finally got my telekinesis down. But we're moving onto how much weight I can move. And then there are some other unknowns that we're working on."

"Like what?" Angle asked.

"Like why I feel sick when something bad is about to happen."

"So if you throat up, I'm taking cover," Bobby said, with a smile on his face.

"Once again Bobby, you are so witty."

He stuck out his tongue at me and I did the same. I was about to hurl an insult out at Bobby, just for the hell of it, when Piotr rushed over to us, breaking our conversation. He looked like he was in a frenzy state and all of us put on confused faces.

"You guys!" he said. "You gotta come see this! Quick!"

We all picked ourselves us, ditching our food on the ground, and running after Piotr as he made his way back inside the school and into the living room. Everyone was crowded around the television set, all silent and watching. When Angel and I got close enough, we couldn't believe what we just heard.

There was a cure.


	11. Chapter 11

Although the cure was not yet available to the public, you couldn't stop the talk about it from being apart of almost every conversation. All the kids couldn't believe what the news had reported; a cure to suppress the X-gene? It was unheard of and it was both the best and worst thing to ever happen to the mutant race.

It even started to tear some of the friendships apart, splitting some kids into two groups: those that opposed and those that agreed. For the first couple of days, the school was chaotic, having kids break out into heated arguments and fights due to the constant discussion of the cure. It had settled down but there were still those who wanted to loudly show their opinion.

My group was fine. We all had talked about it, but right when we first started to sense aggravation we stopped and never talked about it again. We didn't want to split up and cause anything that was unnecessary. Angel was a different story.

He didn't want to talk about it at all. Every time the discussion came up, he politely excused himself and either went to a different table or an entirely different room. I didn't know whether to take this as a good thing or a bad thing, his unwillingness to talk about it. He seemed a little on the edge at first but began to calm down. But there was still something that was upsetting him, I knew that.

I was in Rogue's room on a Thursday night, keeping her company as she studied for a Chemistry test she had the next day. I had been in her room since school ended and it was now almost 7 PM. I enjoyed her company, although she was mostly silent the whole time. She would, though, ask me to help define vocabulary for her every now and then. Or she would take a break and we'd just talk mindlessly.

I was laying down on the floor, sprawled against the hard, brown wood, and staring absently at the ceiling. I wasn't doing anything in particular, just thinking and relaxing. Every couple of minutes I would awake from my daze and practice my telekinesis, but I enjoyed just thinking and having my mind at ease, away from everything else and in it's own world.

My eyes were closed this time and I was concentrating on my breathing, when I felt an image tug at my mind.

"Bobby's coming," I said, "with Angel."

I turned my head and opened my eyes to look at Rogue, who was reclining on her bed and staring at me. She looked towards the door and sure enough, a second later, the door opened and Bobby, joined by Angel, walked inside the room. They leaned on the walls of the room and watched us.

"What are you guys doing?" Angel asked. "Napping or studying?"

"A little bit of both," I mumbled, as if I had just woken up from a good night's sleep.

I turned over on my side to block both of them out of my view and closed my eyes again. Maybe I was finding this whole pondering process _too_ delightful.

But having someone's ass sit on your ribs will certainly wake you up. Angel sat there, not putting too much pressure on me obviously, and smiled down at me with a playful smile. I grumbled and pushed him off of me, and he landed with a thud on the floor.

He glared at me and picked himself up, wiping away the imaginary dust that might have been on his jeans.

"Well," he said, "I think I'll steal Ali if you don't mind Rogue. It's my turn now."

He grabbed my forearm and heaved me up, not bothering to ask me because he already knew the answer. I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind him and we stumbled our way towards Rogue's bedroom door.

"Bye you guys," I said, releasing one arm to wave then once out of her bedroom, connecting it back with my other one.

We somehow managed not to fall on the way to Angel's room, which was an adventure in itself, having hit almost all the walls and laughing hysterically as if intoxicated.

He opened the door and I shut it with my foot before he dragged me over to the bed and flopped down on his back, having me hit it and then succumbing to his weight. I pushed him off of me and then sat up Indian style, now feeling awake and full of energy.

"Hey beautiful," he said, leaning his head and sneaking in a kiss. He placed a hand on my cheek and pulled my face up to kiss him more.

When he drawed back, I could help but have a smile on my face. He leaned back, resting himself on his bed, the pillows supporting his back. I laid my head down on his chest and breathed in his scent, loving every second of it.

"What'd you girls do for almost the entire day?" he asked, playing with my hair, running his fingers through it and twirling it at the end.

"It was pretty wild. Are you sure you want to know what we did?" I said, teasing him.

"Oh yes, do tell what girls do when they are alone."

"Well," I said, lifting myself up slightly with my elbows and placing my head in my hands. "Rogue and I got really, really drunk and then after that we got naked and invited all these guys over, people we didn't even know, and then they got naked--"

"You know," he said, interrupting me, "this isn't the fantasy I imagined."

I chuckled and said, "We didn't do anything. Rogue studied and I just laid there."

"You laid on the floor for like four hours?" he questioned, raising up an eyebrow.

I nodded and used my index finger to trace a pattern on his chest. "_I_ liked it. Besides, sometimes I practiced and sometimes I just thought."

His eyes watched my finger move. "What did you think about?"

"Stuff," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Stuff?" he asked, grinning and tying to squeeze out some answers from me.

I pushed myself up so my lips were but an inch away from his. His mouth remained in a grin. "Stuff," I said, not planning on telling him anything, and my lips grazed his.

Then I pulled back and laid my head back on his chest. I giggled and he smiled down at me.

"You're horrible, you know that?" he told me.

"Yeah but you like me anyway."

"So true," he said.

After laying there for a bit, I got anxious and decided to stand up and move around. Angel just watched me and I walked around his room, being noisy and looking at all the stuff he had. He didn't seem bothered by what I was doing so I continued to look through his drawers, even though I had no idea what I was looking for or what was going to attract me.

When I pulled open the second drawer of the old desk he had situated by the wall, I saw a packet of lined paper. Right when I was going to shut it and declare it uninteresting, I saw another style of paper sticking out from underneath the stack. I slowly opened the drawer fully again and lifted up the lined paper, finding about ten envelopes with letters inside.

"Hey," Angel said suddenly, sitting up and almost jumping out of bed.

I ignored him and was only able to read the addresses on the envelope before having Angel snatch it out of my hand. I snapped my head up and looked him, confused.

"You were writing to your dad?" I asked.

He stuffed the envelopes back under the lined paper and slammed the drawer shut, perhaps too forcefully.

It was the silence that followed that was eerie. I waited for him to answer me, but he just stood there. I had never seen him with such a panicked face.

"Angel," I said slowly.

"Yeah," he said, seeming to collect himself. "Just writing to my dad. Nothing big."

How could I expect to believe him with an answer like that? But I decided to let it go, seeing as how it bugged him and I didn't want to pry where I wasn't wanted. But it still hurt that he wouldn't tell me.


	12. Chapter 12

I opened the door to the Professor's room and silently closed the door when I noticed he was still teaching a class. I went over to the corner of the room and leaned against the wall as I waited for him to finish.

"I expect the report next week," Professor said and the students took it as their cue to leave. They one by one began to pack up and grab their personal belongings, then filing out the door. When they all left, I sat in one of the chairs by his desk as he wheeled around to sit in front of me.

"Hello Alixandra," he said warmly with a smile. "How are you feeling today?"

"Great," I said, putting a strand of loose hair behind my ear.

He nodded and began to wheel himself towards the front door. "I'd like to do something a little different today, if you don't mind," he said. "I'd like to have you in a simulator again, besides having you here."

This was something I had been waiting for. "Yeah sure."

We made our way from his office to the elevator that took us below the school. When we finally reached the level, the elevator doors open and I followed the Professor as he wheeled down hallways that all looked exactly the same. Without him guiding me, I surely would have been lost.

He stopped when he reached a set of metal doors and turned to face me. His face was serious and he looked completely concentrated.

"I need to warn you Alixandra," he told me and my stomach began to feel queasy when he talked in such a powerful way. "Today's lesson will not only be mentally demanding, but emotionally as well. Would you like more time?"

I didn't know what he meant when he said that and I was starting to fear what was lying behind those doors. But I had to do this.

"I'm ready."

* * *

I hugged onto my sweater as the temperature in the once dull, solid room began to change drastically. The cold wind slapped my face and tousled my hair. It was almost too much to bear; I could hardly open my eyes and my fingers began to feel numb as the snow storm raged on. The trees of the forest swayed drastically but, due to the hazardous wind, I could see no more than fifteen feet in front of me. All I knew that was near were these giant dying oak trees and the empty road to my right.

I bit my lip and looked around me, trying desperately to hear the surroundings around me and preparing myself for oncoming danger. My stomach was, once again, gnawing at my insides and my head was the only thing that was hot in this environment. But I moved my feet, step by step, to find what was supposed to be my obstacle.

The more I walked forward, the more the insides of my stomach fought and splashed. I knew I was close and I couldn't stop. But I couldn't walk more than ten feet before almost doubling over in pain. This was big. Uncontrollably big.

"Well," I heard a dominant voice say. "Look what we have here."

I picked my head up and could only make out the figure of a man not to far away. I straightened my back and tried with all my might to look threatening and strong but it was failing miserably.

"Yes dear, come on over. I don't bite," he said.

As I approached, parts of him started to become clear. I could make out his build, his height and finally, his face. I stopped immediately and felt my fists automatically clench together in rage. My jaw tightened and my head felt like exploding internally.

Son of bitch.

"Why hello," Magneto said, having a smile on his face that didn't have any good intentions. "We meet again Alixandra."

I was so angry that I couldn't even utter a word. My mind flashed to horrible images; my family all happily playing a game, my father's face filled with fear, the house torn to bits. I had never thought I could actually be capable of killing another human being. But at this moment, it was all I could think about.

He began to walk towards me slowly, showing no fear or any emotion at all. The only sound that was audible was the crunching sound his feet made as they moved across the fragile, white snow. Soon enough he was no more than five feet in front of me.

"You have your mother's temper," he said.

I threw my hands up, straight at his chest, causing a bright aqua force to barrel him backwards. His body collided with the ground as the light faded and the weather seemed to react with the hostility; it howled and steadily grew worse.

Magneto slowly began to pick himself up and I felt such satisfaction in knowing that he was injured because of me. His face was now filled with anger and I thrived on it. I saw him lift his hand and before I could react, I was hit in the side with something hard and dense, causing me to fly and collide into one of the trees. I slumped down and groaned in pain, tasting the metallic taste of blood slide into my mouth.

I opened my eyes and saw a piece of metal railing from the road next to me. You know, that seemed very inappropriate.

I saw it begin to rise again and I quickly rolled over as it flew towards me. It had hit the tree with such force that it created a hole straight through it. My breathing began to pick up and I staggered to stand up.

My eyes jumped over to the other bits of railing still in place by the road, as they slowly detached and began to float in the air. Then they all turned in my direction and I knew what was going to happen next.

I flew my hands up quickly and just in time. The metal railings were no more than a foot away from my face. I could feel myself being pushed back, the force of Magneto's power and mine had collided together and I was weaker than he was. I pushed with all the power that I had, concentrating so hard that I thought someone had just released grenades in my head, to push him and the metal railings away from me.

I moved my right foot forward, my hands still up and the bright aqua light providing a shield against the railings. I slowly began to move my left foot forward. Then my right again. Left. Right. Left. Right.

My hands felt like they were disintegrating, my body as if it was on fire. I kept reminding myself of what he had done, how he had ruined my family, my home, my previous life. It was all the fuel I needed to push myself and I was gaining on him. I had never wanted something so bad and it was propelling me to go further.

And then the environment began to change. The trees began to fade away, the snow started to melt and become the familiar, steel floors. Magneto slowly disappeared and soon enough, I was back in the simulator, not in the middle of nowhere, where it was snowing and Magneto was there to ridicule me.

I dropped my hands and fell to my knees. My body was trembling and when I turned my hands over, they were raw and red. I could still taste the blood in my mouth and my eyes started to fog with tears.

I almost wanted it to be real. I was so close to getting Magneto, I could just feel it. I was gaining on him, slowly, but I would have had him. I would have killed him.


	13. Chapter 13

After the simulator, the Professor took me to the clinic to get me patched up. I didn't realize I had been so injured. When I looked at myself in the mirror I could hardly recognize myself. The pupils in my eyes were so large and such a florescent color of blue. My hair was crazy, strands flying in every direction and my clothes wet and dirty from the snow.

My body was something else. My face had a long scratch across the cheek; I had been swiped by the end of the railing and it caused me to draw blood. There was a small bruise outlining the scratch, a disgusting color of army green, deep purple, and mud brown. The entire right side of my body was bruised as well from my shoulders to my feet. I had scratches along my right arm and a softball sized bruise on my stomach.

My hands felt disconnected from my body and I couldn't help but stare at them the entire time the Professor cleaned my wounds.

The Professor put a wet pad against my arm and I jumped. The liquid that was on the pad had stung my skin. He waited before I rested my arm back on the table to do it again.

"So," I said, feeling like I needed to say something. "How did I do?"

He pressed the pad against my arm and my face scrunched up in pain. Then he slowly removed it and placed it on the table adjacent to mine.

"You did well Alixandra. You are more powerful than I expected," he said. He slowly lifted his head to look at me in the eyes. "I am very proud of you. I hope you know I always will be."

He lowered his head to continue to treat my scratches. My eyes stung with tears because of the love I felt from him. It was parental love, something I had begun to miss.

After a couple of minutes, he put everything away and faced me.

"Do you feel alright?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. I stood up from the chair I was sitting in and tried to ignore the pain that shot through my body. "I feel fine."

* * *

Everyone was in their last class of the day as I made my way back into the school. When the elevators doors opened, no one was roaming around in the halls but instead, inside the classrooms. I said goodbye to the Professor, who told me that I should take time to relax and rest before I do anything else. I agreed, greatly I might add, and headed to my room to do as he said.

I pushed open the door of my room and closed it behind me, not even bothering to lock it. My eyes were starting to droop due to the drowsiness that was taking over and I was stumbling just to find my bed. I flung off my shoes and fell onto my bed. I fell asleep before I even had time to pull the covers over my body.

* * *

I groaned and turned to the side, but quickly regretted it when nothing but pain filled my body. I quickly returned to my previous position and opened my eyes. Instead of the light I had been expecting, the window outside showed nothing but the night and the small bright stars that showed in the sky. My eyes wandered to the digital clock on my desk and it read **1:58 A.M. **I sighed and slowly picked myself up, realizing that I had slept throughout the entire day.

I changed the dirty clothes I was in and examined my bruises in the mirror. At least I could hide the things on my arms and legs, but for my face it was useless. The scratch and bruise was clearly visible. I brushed my hair and then slowly dragged myself over to the window.

I pushed it open and breathed in a lot of air, then pulled myself out. I successfully crawled out and heaved myself up on the roof, all without screaming in pain and/or falling to my death. That was another good accomplishment about today.

I looked around and saw that I was not alone, what I had hoped for. Angel was sitting on the chimney, shirtless and his wings spread out. His back was to me and he hadn't noticed that I had joined him.

I shuffled my feet over and when I was close I announced, "Hey."

He looked over his shoulder and gave me a weak smile. He looked tired. "Hey."

He grabbed my wrist and slowly brought me over to the front of him. I had my head slumped down because I didn't want him to see the hideous scratch that was on my face. That would lead to explaining what happened and what I had to fight. I just didn't want to relive or think about it for awhile.

But his fingers touched the bottom of my chin and brought my head up. I saw his eyes widen as he looked at my face.

"Jesus Christ Ali," he mumbled. "What the hell happened today?"

I sighed. "I had to fight in the simulator today," I said. "I...I don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry."

He nodded and massaged my arm but I yanked it back. He looked confused but then I showed him the scratches that were present.

"What else?" he asked, his face filled with concern.

I lifted up my shirt a little to show him the bruise on my stomach. He shook his head and lightly touched it. I let my shirt fall back into place.

I was feeling so tired and sore, but all I wanted to do was stay with Angel. I stood in between his legs and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging his body tight. He carefully hugged me back, not wanting to inflict any pain on my fragile body. I kissed his neck and then placed my head on his shoulder, as he rubbed my back.

I hadn't realized I had been crying until Angel pulled me away and began to wipe my tears. He looked so worried and so hurt that I was hurt.

"Ali," he whispered. "Are you okay?"

I grabbed his hand that was near my face. "It's just been a long day," I said. I leaned in towards him and gave him a kiss on the lips. "I'm fine."

"Alright," he said. "Maybe you should go back to sleep."

"No," I said. "I'm fine, _really_." I decided to change the subject.

As I ran my fingers through his wings I asked, "So what did you do today?"

He ruffled his wings and I snapped my hand back, laughing. He grinned at me and let me touch his wings again as he held me by my waist carefully.

"Nothing really," he said. "Bobby, Piotr, and I hung out with Logan. But before we left Bobby froze his entire closet."

I laughed and Angel and I talked some more. He talked mostly, about how he did on his tests today and how Rogue missed me the entire day and about the other pranks they have planned for Logan. He didn't bring up the simulator again and for that I was grateful.

Another hour passed before I began to feel tired again and my eyes were starting to warn me that I should head back to bed.

"I'm going to bed," I told Angel and he nodded. I came close to him and gave him a kiss. But when I was about to pull away, he held me closer and continued the kiss. We were like that for awhile but I eventually had to really pull back.

"Night," I said, planting a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Night beautiful."


	14. Chapter 14

"Holy shit!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Did you get mauled by a raccoon?" Bobby asked.

I glared down at him and then rolled my eyes. "I'm fine, _thanks for asking_," I said, sitting down and joining Rogue, Bobby, and Piotr under the shade of the large oak tree by the garden.

"I'll be nice," Piotr said as he shoved Bobby. "What happened Ali?"

I leaned against the tree and spread my legs against the grass. "I was in the simulator, that's it," I said, feeling anxious that they might want to know more. Of which I was not going to elaborate on, so I decided that changing the subject would be good idea. "I heard Chemistry was fun yesterday Piotr."

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Little known fact," he said, "Apparently I can't cheat well."

Rogue and Bobby laughed as they recalled the incident.

"You tried to cheat while the Professor was visiting the class!" Rogue said, holding her stomach attempting to squelch her giggles. "Why would you cheat with a guy who can read minds is around?"

"I tried to think of other things!"

"You're such an idiot, I swear," Bobby sighed, massaging the crest of his nose.

While Piotr and Bobby were hitting each other in retaliation, Rogue scooted closer to me.

"So," she whispered in my ear. I saw a playful glint in her eye. "Where's your boyfriend?"

That one word, _boyfriend_, made my stomach twist and flip, but I assure you, in a good way. Sometimes it was hard to even believe that Angel and I were dating. And by dating I meant not actually going on any dates, considering we can't thanks to my luck, and kissing all the time. But wait. Were we even together? I mean, sure, we act like it. But I don't ever remember Angel ever asking me.

It just started the day he kissed me on the roof. It was like a silent agreement. I mean, of course he wouldn't go start kissing other girls, he _better_ not, but I was still clueless whether it was official or not.

"Oh, Ralph? He's fine," I said and Rogue and I burst out into giggles.

Bobby and Piotr stopped what they were doing for a split second, to try to see if they could find out what we were laughing about, but once Piotr saw that Bobby was distracted, he jumped on him again and began to punch him.

"You know that, uh, _Ralph__**,**_ really likes you," Rogue said, laying fully down on the grass, soaking in the sun's rays.

I laughed and looked down at her. "That's good considering I really like Ralph too."

"Aw!" Rogue squealed. She sat up quickly and jab my shoulder with her index finger. "Ali and Ralph sittin' in a tree..."

"Don't you even--"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G..."

"Who's Ralph?" Bobby asked, cocking an eyebrow and shoving Piotr off of him.

Rogue and I gasped in unison, then clasped our hands together and put on a dreamy expression.

"Oh Ralph," I gasped. "He's only the most beautiful man ever."

"Ralph is certainly the most lovable person in the planet," Rogue said, and when she looked at me, I couldn't compress my laughter any longer. We fell on top of each other, rolling around and laughing at our stupidity.

"Did I miss out on something?" I heard Angel ask. I looked up and saw him standing there, a glass of water in his right hand and a tired look on his face.

"Dude," Bobby said, "did you just wake up?"

Angel nodded and ran his fingers through his hair in a sad attempt to fix it. "I know I know, it's late," he said, sitting down.

"It's like," Piotr checked his watch, "almost one in the afternoon."

"I know."

"Oh and Ali and Rogue are in love with some Ralph kid," Bobby said, informing him on what was going on.

"Who's Ralph?" Angel questioned.

Rogue and I could looked at each other again and went back to what we were doing only a minute ago, laughing uncontrollably and looking ridiculous.

After a couple of minutes, we stopped, wiped our tears and sat back up. My stomach hurt from jumping up and down for too long and my mouth felt stretched out due to the excessive smiling, but I wasn't complaining.

I moved over to Angel's side and hugged him. He kissed my forehead and put an are around me.

"You guys want to do something today? You know, besides sitting out here?" Piotr asked.

"No," I said, rolling my eyes. "This is just _so_ entertaining."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "How about we go to my room and watch a movie?"

"You have a TV in your room?" Bobby asked, sounding shocked. "What the hell? How?"

"I went out yesterday and found a really crappy one, so I fixed it up and now it's in my room," Piotr said. "Even got a DVD player as a bonus." He smiled and put his hands behind his head in victory.

"What movies do you have?" Rogue asked.

"Well, slight problem," he said. "Don't got any. But I'm sure other people do, so we'll just go around and ask. Sound like a plan?"

* * *

We split into teams, Rogue and me, Bobby was alone, and Piotr and Angel. We had to knock on as many people's bedroom doors as possible, ask if they had movies laying around, and if we could, just for today, borrow them, if that would be okay. We had fifteen minutes, then would head to Piotr's room.

Rogue and I took the top floor and after ten minutes, we had only gone to one room. We made the mistake of going to Kitty's room first, who blindly dragged us into a long conversation about whether she should use the small amount of money she had to buy another pair of shoes. Of course Rogue and I were debating whether black shoes would be more fitting, while Kitty said she wanted some light yellow ones, and we ended up losing track of time.

Realizing that we only had five minutes left, Rogue and I, not want to turn up empty handed, decided to split up and go in separate directions. I would take the floor beneath us and she would finish the top floor.

I told her I'd see her soon, then pushed open the door that led to the flight of stairs. The room was stuffy, seeing as there was no air conditioning and hardly any light. I held onto the the railing and moved quickly down the stairs to go onto the floor below.

I was about to make the turn to go down the last flight of stairs when my body hid something hard, causing me to loose my fall and land on my ass, the ass that was still scratched and bruised from the day before. I groaned in pain, clenched my eyes shut, and held onto my sides, feeling nothing but a burning sensation run throughout my body.

"Oh shit," I heard a familiar voice say. I peeked open an eye to see Angel, quickly getting up and moving towards me. "Ali, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

He grabbed my forearms and picked me up as if I only weighed as much as a feather.

"I'm fine," I huffed out, trying to not sound like I was just shot. "Perfectly fine."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Angel said, his voice strained. "Do you need anything?"

"A pack of ice would be nice," I told him and I added under my breathe, "_and a gun._"

He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me hobble down the flight of stairs and into the kitchen. The cook gave us a pack of ice that was in one of the freezers and hinted that I should probably go to the clinic, but I passed on the offer. Then Angel helped me walk back upstairs to Piotr's room, which was, thank God, only one flight up.

When Piotr opened the door and found me hobbling and dressed in ice packs, he just rolled his eyes and accepted it.

"Ali," Rogue laughed, "what did you do now?"

"I didn't do anything," I said, still having Angel help me walk. "Angel's just uncoordinated."

Angel smirked and gently placed me on the floor. When he let go, he stood straight up, but was hunched back over again when Bobby smacked him upside the head.

"How many times do I have to tell you Angel?" Bobby said. "Girls don't like it when you inflict pain upon them."

Angel glared at him and raised an arm to hit him back, but Piotr dragged him away.

"Movie time!" Piotr yelled.


	15. Chapter 15

The night wind swept across my face, brushing the loose strands of hair off my shoulders and sending a chill down my back. The scent of gardenias, sunflowers, and lilies rose from the garden and surrounded me as I sat on the roof. It was a beautiful night, where just enough light was emitted from the moon and stars, allowing me to read without the need of a flashlight.

I leaned against the chimney that was jutted out from the roof, my head slanted as I read Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises.' I had borrowed it from Kitty today, yet I was already on page 60. Of course, I had been on the roof for an hour straight, enjoying the silence and weather.

I flipped another page and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I stretched out my legs, as they had previously been Indian-style, and hugged my body as another wave of wind slapped my arms.

My eyes were scanning each word printed on the paper when a single white feather blocked the end of the sentence. I felt my face stretch into a smile and I looked up to see Angel towering above me with the same infectious smile.

He was shirtless, something I enjoyed greatly, and his wings were spread out, another thing that only added to his appeal. The only thing he wore was a pair of baggy, black sweat pants. I, on the other hand, had on a black tank top and flimsy gray basketball shorts.

Angel moved over in front of me and knelt down, placing a sweet kiss on my lips before standing back up again.

"I'll be back," he said. "Keep reading."

I watched him, wanting to know if he was going to go back to his room, but instead he started to walk towards the end of the roof. I raised an eyebrow as his wings began to shutter. Then he took a step forward and shot up, his wings propelling him forward and up into the night sky.

Like I could read now. All I could do was watch him as he flied aimlessly in the air, stretching and using his wings to his full potential.

He must have been up there for an hour, but my eyes could not detach from his body. My heart fluttered with every turn he took and I couldn't help but think, _Damn...He's hot._

When I saw him declining to land, I quickly snapped my head down and pretended to read my book, like I had been doing that the whole time and _not_ checking him out for a full hour.

He slumped down next to me, leaning against the chimney and catching his breath.

"That must be a pretty interesting page, because you're still on it," he said, laughing at the end.

I picked up my head and glared at him. Okay. Maybe my plan wasn't as intelligent as I thought it was.

As Angel got his breathing steady, I really did pay attention to my book and read a little. I only got to another page before he spoke again.

"Hey, look at me," he instructed and I turned my face towards him. His fingers grazed the disappearing, but still evident bruise on my face. "It's almost gone."

I nodded and continued to let him trace it with his fingers, enjoying his touch.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Unless you decided to jab it angrily, no," I answered.

"I'll try to resist," he said softly, his face slowly approaching my cheek. I grinned as he began to lightly kiss my cheek.

His lips began to move and they eventually found their way over to mine. He placed his hand on the back of my neck while I wrapped my arms around him. He pressed his lips harder and I pulled him closer to my body.

I peeked open an eye, just to catch a glimpse of his face, and when I was about to shut it, a shadow from far away made me pull back entirely. Angel studied my face and turned his head around to follow my gaze to the forest surrounding the school.

"What?" he asked, when he turned back around. He looked slightly aggravated that the kissing had stopped and that my attention was elsewhere.

"Nothing, nothing," I said quickly. He became confused. "I just thought I saw something."

"Saw what?"

"It was nothing. Just a bird," I answered rapidly, using the first excuse that flooded into my head.

He looked back over his shoulder than back to me. He seemed satisfied enough and leaned his head back in to kiss me. I kissed him back for a couple of seconds, but keeping my eyes open and directed towards the forest. And then I saw it again.

I pulled away and grabbed the book I had tossed away. I picked myself up quickly and Angel, noticing how I was rushing, bounced up with speed as well.

"Where are you--"

"I'm going to bed," I said, interrupting him. "I'm exhausted." His face crinkled with confusion. I placed a hand on his chest. "You should go to bed too. School is tomorrow and everything. Get a good night sleep okay? Night Angel."

I gave him a quick peck then shuffled down the roof and slipped into my room. I flopped down on my bed, just in case Angel wanted to catch a peek inside to see if I really was going to sleep, for ten minutes before shooting back up. I rummaged in my closet and threw on my darkest and most concealing clothes: a tight black hoodie and a pair of black jeans. I shoved on my shoes and then made my way to my window, opening it slowly to avoid making any sounds.

I made my way out but slowly looked over towards the roof. It was deserted, just as I had wanted, signaling that Angel had left and gone to bed. It was almost three in the morning anyway, so I wasn't being irrational. It's just that my need for him to go to bed were slightly different than what he thought.

I pulled myself onto the roof and tippy-toed silently to the back. I slid back down, holding onto the strands of ivy that wrapped around the back of the school. I eventually made my way down, ignoring the rope burn and scratches on my knuckles thanks to my uncoordination.

I looked around, never having been in the garden at this time of night before and felt my heart race pick up due to the excitement and thrill of it all. I grabbed the hood of my sweater and placed it over my head, then darted across the courtyard to the back wall. I flung myself over, into the forest and now away from the safest place for me.

Was this a bad idea? Most likely. But I never think clearly enough.

I began to move silently to the spot where I thought I had seen the shadow from the roof. It had been awhile since I had last seen it, it could have disappeared, hell, it could have really been a bird. But I had to find out.

Upon hearing a twig snap, I flung myself behind a decaying oak tree and remained motionless. I didn't even breathe. After about a couple more seconds of silence, I slowly moved my head to look beyond the tree.

Nothing. I sucked in some air and moved forward again in a stealth-like manner. I saw something move from far away and jumped to hide again. My heart was slamming against my rib cage and beads of sweat slid down my temple. I gripped the tree I was leaning on in an attempt to stop my hands from shaking. I was slowly beginning to regret making the decision to leave school in the middle of the night to find out who this mysterious shadow was.

If it was anybody at all.

I turned over and shifted my head to look past the tree. Nothing, again. I let out a breathe of air and slowly turned back again to lean my back against the tree. But now I wasn't alone.

A hand muffled my screams.


	16. Chapter 16

Angel's grip on my mouth tightened to suppress my scream, making it barely audible. I grabbed his wrist angrily and yanked it off my mouth. I could have sworn I was having a seizure, I had been rattled so much. My breathing became uneven and rapid and my heart was taking a sledgehammer to my insides.

"What the fuc--"

It was my turn to silence Angel and I slapped my hand to his mouth to stop him mid-sentence. I put my index finger over my mouth signaling him to be silent, then removed my hand. I pulled him towards me, making him and I switch positions so that he was against the tree and I could hide behind both of them. I turned over and moved my head to see if anything was in front of us.

Once again, nothing. But I could have sworn something was here...

I turned my attention back to Angel, losing my sense of caution and being infuriated at his presence. I glared deep into his eyes, feel like a dog on a short leash, like I couldn't go anywhere without anyone watching me and pulling me back home.

"What are you doing here?" I asked sharply, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion and rage.

He looked at me like I was a small child and incompetent of understanding.

"You don't have to look after me," I whispered and crossed my arms.

"Yeah," he said with a sarcastic tone. "I'll just let you go out into the middle of a forest during the night and kill yourself."

"I make my own decisions--"

"Well they aren't very good--"

"Well I didn't ask you--"

"You probably should--"

I was just about to turn around and flee back home dramatically when Angel snaked his arms around my waist so tightly that I thought he was going to suffocate me. I couldn't even turn an inch the way his hands were gripped to my body.

"What are you doing?" I whispered sharply, bringing my head up to look at him. He was stoic. My face dropped. I slowly turned and saw someone standing in front of us.

It was a older women but not by much; her black long hair tied back in a ponytail, her body covered in black leather, with hints of a tan skin underneath. Her cheek bared a large tattoo and a small metallic ball was pierced underneath her lower lip. She smirked at our presence.

And then she was gone in a wink of an eye. I couldn't speak or move, I was so scared that it was like my body had shut down all functions. My mouth hung open in terror and it didn't seem real.

"Boo," I heard someone whisper in my ear.

I was shoved out of Angel's arms and fell onto the dirt floor. I saw her standing by Angel, still smirking, but before I could tell him to move, she was by my side, sending a blow to my ribs. I doubled over in pain and Angel lunged forward, but before he could grab her, she had moved again.

Angel turned around swiftly but she was quicker. She punched his chest hard and he grabbed her wrist before she could do it again. But she was out of his grasp in a second and in another position before he could even register it.

I quickly staggered back up, ignoring the pain in my stomach, and whisked my head around to try and find her.

"Let's go!" Angel hollered and he started to make his way to my side.

But before we could even get close enough to leave, I was kicked from behind and sent back to the ground. I landed not-so-softly and my face had collided with the dirt. I felt burns from the impact form on my wrist and then I heard the sound of body parts connecting and Angel grunt in pain.

I had had enough. I flipped over so I was sitting up and once she reappeared again, I flung out my hands towards her. Her body froze but her eyes were filled with nothing but rage.

I pushed my hand forward and released, sending her flying backwards, far into the forest. Her body broke branches and tree limbs before smashing down on the ground miles away.

Angel didn't waste time. He grabbed my body, flung me over his shoulders and took off, hurling both of our bodies into the sky. I picked my head up to see his wings flapping and gliding through the night and towards the school. I held onto him tightly as we flew further and further away from the ground.

Instead of landing on the roof, he flew to the window of his room. He opened it quickly and flung our bodies inside. He closed and locked it behind him, then threw me down on his bed.

"Hey!" I whispered harshly, not liking my landing.

"What the hell is wrong with you Ali?" he asked, his voice low but clearly filled with anger and fear. I had never heard him speak like that and I think it frightened me more than the rumble in the forest.

My mouth was open but nothing came out.

He was pacing back and forth and breathing heavily. "What the fuck made you want to do that?" he questioned. "Do you want to die?"

I just sat there in silence.

"They want you, you know that, so you decide to leave, in the middle of the night, to explore the forest?" he continued. "Do you realize that you weren't thinking at all? Are one of your powers being absolutely clueless?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

My eyes shot up at his last sentence. Okay. That hurt. His anger had finally gotten to me. I know I hadn't made the best choice, but I didn't deserve to be harassed about it.

I stood up and ran over to his window, unlocking it and trying to push it open so I could head back over to my room. I didn't want to be around Angel anymore. Tonight was just much more than I could handle.

"Wait, Ali," he said, moving in front of me, blocking the window. I shoved him out of the way and continued to open the window.

He grabbed my waist and dragged me back. "Ali," he whispered. "Just wait."

I pushed him off of me again. "What?!" I asked sharply, tears stinging my eyes.

He didn't say anything, but instead watched me. His face had stopped showing frustration and was now showing compassion. He sighed as I stood there and tried not to cry in front of him.

"Ali, I'm sorry," he said, taking a step towards me. But I took a step back. He ran a hand through his hair. "Ali, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say those things. I was just...," he paused, "I just don't want you to get hurt again."

I didn't look at him. My eyes were glued to the floor. He took a step towards me and placed his hands on my arms.

"Ali please look at me," he whispered.

I couldn't.

"Ali..."

I didn't say anything. Neither did he. We just stood there, tired, scared, and rattled. It was four in the morning and we need to be up in three hours. We were covered in dirt and beads of sweat.

"Do you want to know why I followed you? Why I never let you out of my sight?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Do you want to know why I wait every night on the roof to see if you're going to come up? Do you know why Ali?"

He used his fingers to push my head up, to gaze into his eyes as he continued to talk.

"Because I love you. That's why." He pulled his hands away from me, not touching me, and his eyes diverted mine. He pursed his lips and sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

I still couldn't say anything, now for a totally different reason: I was shocked out of my mind.

He didn't like my silence, at all. This probably wasn't the way he had expected things to go and he probably wished my answer was better than the nothing that came out of my mouth. His face grew frustrated once again.

"You can leave now," he said coldly. He moved over to his bed and sat down, his back to me.

And all I could do was turn around and leave.


	17. Chapter 17

I knocked on the door of Rogue's room, feeling the desperate need to talk to someone. Angel had taken it upon himself to ignore my presence ever since our little "incident" and his seclusion had made me feel more alone than ever. I had gone two days, the whole weekend, talking to no one, grabbing food then rushing back upstairs, taking a shower at late hours to avoid everyone. Rogue had apparently heard what happened through Bobby I'm guessing and told me that whenever I wanted to talk that she would be available.

I guess this was the one time that she wasn't here. I sighed and cursed my luck. I blew my bangs out of my eyes and proceeded to walk to Bobby's room. His door was slightly ajar so I put my hand on the doorknob and pushed it open.

"Hey Bobby--" I started but stopped once my eyes drifted across the room. Bobby was sitting on his bed and Angel was on the floor, facing him. It was the first time I had seen him in days. His eyes had dark circles underneath and he looked pale. He didn't look like himself. His face quickly hardened and he turned his attention towards the window, ignoring me once again.

"Uhm," I said nervously, shifting from side to side. "H-Have you seen Rogue?"

"She didn't come to class today," Bobby said. "She's not in her room?"

"I knocked and she didn't answer."

"I did the same earlier," Bobby said, confused. "Huh. Well, luckily I know a girl who can walk through walls."

Bobby got up, shoved Angel in the shoulder, and coughed loudly, "_Let's GO Angel_." Angel got up, still sullen and grumpy, and I led the way to Kitty's room with Bobby and Angel in tow. I knocked on her door and a second later it opened.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked sweetly.

We made our way down to Rogue's room. Kitty knocked on the door and put her ear against it.

"Rogue?" she called out. "Roooggguuueeeeeee?"

Still no response. She sighed angrily and knocked again.

"Kitty just go inside," Bobby complained, slightly aggravated and worried.

"I don't like to just pop into people's room you know," she said, turning around to face us. "People have a certain thing called privacy."

"Please Kitty?" I asked, clasping my hands together, trying to persuade her.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine."

A second later the door opened and Kitty reappeared. She let us inside Rogue's room which was barren and empty. The bed was made, untouched, with a note in the center. My stomach gnawed at my insides. Something wasn't right. I began to feel queasy and lightheaded. There was a repeating question floated around in my head. Where was Rogue?

Bobby slowly approached the note on the bed. We waited in silence as his eyes shifted from line to line, reading her words. When he stopped at the bottom, he paused, his face emotionless, then went back up to re-read it. I think he read it four times.

He picked his face up slowly, his eyes large and as empty as the room we were standing in.

"She left," he whispered.

My mouth slowly descended and I couldn't move.

"She left," he repeated. "I…I…She left for…for the cure."

I couldn't believe it. Rogue had never talked about the cure before. I didn't even think she wanted it. I mean, I would think she would tell me before making such a rash decision to just leave. She had people who cared about her here and she just picked up and left. My best friend, my only friend, had left me alone. I was back into my hole. The never-ending hole.

Bobby grasped the note tenderly, looking back down at it. Then he stormed out of Rogue's room and the slam of a bedroom door could be heard. Kitty looked at me then at Angel and decided to leave as well.

But at the moment I wasn't thinking about Angel, about our little fight, about school, about my family, about anything. My mind was blank. The treadmill in my brain had stopped working and a single thought process couldn't even be formed.

"Ali?"

What if Rogue wasn't safe? What if she got hurt? I knew she was a big girl but what if something happened? This world was growing darker by the minute and for her to travel by herself was a big risk. Especially to that institute. Along with people looking for the cure, were protesters who I'm sure would do everything they could to stop the sell of it.

"Ali?"

I snapped my head up and saw Angel standing before me. I had missed him so much. So incredibly much. He was the only thing here I had left.

I attacked him in a hug, wrapping my arms around his body so tight that I thought he was going to yank me off of him. But he didn't. He hugged my back instead and I placed my head on the top of his shoulder. His scent lingered by my nose and soft cotton of his shirt rubbed across my face.

He kissed the top of my forehead the top of my forehead and I looked up at him. He brought up his hand and stroked my left cheek, his eyes no longer dark and cold. Then he leaned down and kissed my lips.

___________________________________________________

Knock. Another knock. Then there was tapping. I groaned, my eyes shut from slumber, and turned away from the noise. The tapping stopped for about three seconds. Then the sound of my window being scratched at and it slowly being lifted open.

Now that woke me up.

I turned over quickly and saw Angel climbing inside. The red light in the corner flashed 3:51 AM so bright that it stung my eyes.

"What the hell?" I asked, half-asleep and feeling completely disheveled.

Angel strode over to my bedside and got down on his knees so he could be level with me.

"What's…what are--"

"Bobby left," Angel said in an abrupt whisper.

I groaned again and slumped down into bed. "You're kidding," I said, slapping my hand to my forehead.

"We have to find him," he said.

This made me shoot back up and I looked at him as if he was insane. "Are you serious?"

"We'll find them quicker if there's two of us," he said. "I need you with me Ali."

"Angel," I said in a serious tone. "Professor is going to be so unbelievably mad when he knows we've all left."

Angel got up and started to shift through my closest. He pulled out my tattered messenger bag and then proceeded to throw my clothes inside. I threw my covers off of me and lunged towards Angel, grabbing my bag away from him.

He looked at me, confused.

"What?" he questioned.

"I don't want to leave the school," I said uneasily.

"Why?"

"T-The professor…a-and I've got a test tomorrow you know and we could get in trouble," I stammered.

He raised his eyebrow. "Ali," he said comfortingly. He placed his hands on my elbows. "Why don't you really want to go?"

I swallowed and looked at the floor. "We don't know what's out there."

"Look at me," he commanded and I brought my head up. "I promise, _promise, that I will protect you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."_

How could I say no now? Seriously?

I threw my bag into his chest and yanked a shirt out of my closet. He grinned boyishly and then I threw the shirt at his face.

When we finished packing I changed quickly into all black clothes so we would be harder to detect. I felt terrible for leaving the school, especially without telling Logan or Storm or the Professor but I had no choice. We needed to bring Rogue and Bobby back. Angel was right. He was always right.

I was on the roof and I had my bag slung across my back. The hood of my sweatshirt was over my head and my hair fluttered in the night wind. I rubbed my hands together to try to warm them up. Angel was in his room grabbing a few of his things before we left. I sat on the edge of the chimney and looked up at the night sky, trying to calm down and shut down all the butterflies ramming into my insides.

"Ready?" I heard Angel ask and I looked to see him approaching me. I nodded as confident as I could.

I turned around and slouched down slightly. I hoisted myself on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. My legs slide around his torso and I braced myself for take off.


End file.
